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Ninth Circuit Upholds West Coast Groundfish Catch Share Program

September 11, 2012

Contact:

Matt Rand, mrand@edf.org, 202.572.3394

(San
Francisco – September 11, 2012) On September 10th, a federal appeals court
unanimously upheld a prior court's ruling that the west coast groundfish
individual transferable quota (ITQ) system, a form of catch share, was lawfully
executed. The decision helps to ensure
that the efforts to improve the management and conservation of the resource
through a catch share will continue as originally designed.

In
its decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the ITQ
program complies with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act and the National Environmental Policy
Act. Pacific Coast Fed'n
of Fishermen's Associations v. Blank, No. 11-17108, opinion filed
September 10, 2012. In finding for the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS), the administering agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce that
governs fishing in federal waters, the court determined that the agency
properly considered the impacts of the program and took necessary steps to
achieve its goals, including increasing economic benefits, protecting the
environment, and holding fishermen accountable for staying within catch limits.

"We
are pleased that the court confirmed that the catch share program is legal and
should continue," said Brent Paine of United Catcher Boats, a fishing group
that participated as a friend of the court in the lawsuit.
"Disrupting a system that has put the west coast fishing industry back on
the right track would have been a disaster and cost jobs at a critical
time."

"The
court's decision affirms that NMFS and the Pacific Fishery Management Council
carefully considered the impact of the ITQ program on communities and took
steps to protect them, including at the expense of efficiency where
necessary. In fact, coastal communities and fishing jobs, which were
faltering before, are more stable under the new system," said David Jincks
of the Midwater Trawlers' Cooperative, which participated as a friend of the
court in the lawsuit. "We have seen profits go up and wasteful
bycatch go down under ITQ management."

"The
environment and the economy both benefit under this program," said Shems Jud, Pacific Region Deputy Director for
the Environmental Defense Fund's Oceans program, which joined United
Catcher Boats
and the Midwater Trawlers Cooperative in support of the government. "For
years regulators tried and failed to figure out how to allow catch of targeted
species without overfishing vulnerable species as bycatch. Now results
from the first year confirm that catch shares have resulted in far less bycatch
of overfished species. The court agreed that the NMFS addressed concerns
about overconcentration of fishing into too few hands and possible impacts on
coastal communities, and we continue to work with communities to ensure they
thrive for generations to come."

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